Save the Rainforests, Use Degraded Land AND Produce Fuel and Food? Soleá Looks at How Macaúba Could Solve Many Problems

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June 29, 2020

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by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) ... Macaúba is known for its high productivity and adaptability to the most adverse climate conditions and even better, the fruit’s shell, pulp, endocarp, and almond can be converted into a range of food products, fuels and hydrocarbons, and other biomaterials including chemicals and additives.

In today’s Digest, why is Macaúba so unique, what are its benefits over some other feedstocks, what is Brazil-based Soleá doing to advance Macaúba for sustainable aviation fuel with Boeing and RSB, Soleá’s latest updates on harvesting, going commercial-scale, and more.

What is Macaúba?

First, the basics as you don’t hear about macaúba as often as some other feedstocks like corn or UCO in the biobased world. Macaúba is a Brazilian Palm Tree, naturally occurring in several regions from North to South of Brazil. It stands out for its high productivity and adaptability to the most adverse climate conditions.

The fruit of the macaúba palm is composed of a shell, pulp, endocarp, and almond – which can be converted into a range of food products, fuels and hydrocarbons, and other biomaterials including chemicals and additives.

Soleá “fell in love with the Brazilian Spirit of Macaúba, its versatility and its innumerous possibilities. We operate in partnership with Acrotech Co. to domesticate and develop high value varieties, working from seed germination to fruit processing,” according to their website.

Felipe Morbi, CEO of Soleá, told The Digest in an exclusive interview, “Macaúba is a ‘new kid on the block’. We undertook the challenge of domesticating a native species and transforming it into a large-scale crop.”

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Sustainability: “This is our key aspect! It can be cultivated in degraded lands (usually former pastures), it helps to reduce water surface runoff and favors the recharge of hydrographic basins. On top of this, this crop can fix a significant amount of CO2eq during its lifecycle (30 years). Furthermore, we have had positive outcome in our pilot areas where we have integrated agricultural and livestock crops.”
High productivity and “quality of its derivate products both in relation to vegetable oil yield (9 ton/ha) and profile where we have a lauric kernel oil and an oleic pulp oil (not palmitic). Coupled with this our biomass yield reaches (30 ton/ha) and we are also a source of protein, dietary fibers, lignin and cellulose. Macaúba’s high yield demands 50% less area than Palm and 6% of the soybean area needed to produce the same amount of oil. This impacts on lower land investment and lower operating cost with more efficient management and harvesting logistics.”
Robustness: “It is highly adaptable to different biomes, climates, reliefs and soil types, enabling its cultivation in several regions of the world. This allow working in high-scale and under a decentralized production. Macaúba demands half of palm’s rainfall index. This allows its cultivation in savannah like areas and not under rain forests which are very fragile biomes.”

“The ‘secret’ behind Macaúba is in its size, smaller than palm, which allows planting close to three times more plants in the same area,” according to Morbi. “In addition, we have run a successful classic genetics improvement program (No GMO) in partnership with a sister-company Acrotech. We are starting a cloning program that coupled with modern agricultural management techniques will lead us to this unique productivity.”

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Among our learnings, circular economy has become a key goal since early days. This challenge was carried out by top-notch specialists that have developed high value applications that includes all our products: 2 oils, 2 flours, 2 shells and even dry leaves and empty bunches. We developed a technical hub around Macaúba involving some of the main Universities and ICTs in the country. We are developing not a new crop but a new production chain under a future-looking basis.”

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In March, The Digest reported that CNH Industrial was investigating the viability of macaúba biodiesel for agricultural machinery. During the tests, mixtures of 10% and 20% of macaúba biodiesel were used. The results showed performance and consumption comparable to Brazilian commercial diesel, with a reduction trend in terms of carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. This is further evidence of FPT Industrial’s commitment to exploring innovative sustainable fuels which could yield positive benefits.

As reported in The Digest in June 2019, the sustainable aviation fuel project in Brazil with “Three Amigos” Boeing, RSB, WWF that starts with identifying small communities of farmers in Brazil with the most promising potential to provide biomass for SAF production. Groups of small farmers that produce sugarcane and macaúba oil in southeast Brazil have already been certified by RSB in recent years, with Boeing’s financial support.

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What the future holds for Soleá

Morbi told The Digest, “Our benchmarking studies showed that successful projects had solid basis, i.e., the key aspects have been worked out so there can be a solid growth. We are close to concluding our “demonstration” phase where we show the strength of our crop management which includes a large germoplasm bank, nursery, a 700 ha farm (former degraded pasture land) and a genetic improvement program. Given our demonstration phase is concluded, we are looking forward building partnerships with key players and investors to support our growth plans.”

“In the next 12 months Soleá will start making its products as well as our key R&D projects will be concluded,” said Morbi. “After this we will enter into a scale-up phase. In the next five years we plan to reach 50 thousand hectares and setting up two processing plants. In the next twenty years we expect that Macaúba has consolidated its role as an alternative crop to current options thus expanding its cultivated area to millions of hectares and offering to society global sustainable and economically viable products supporting decarbonization efforts.”

Soleá joins RSB on Macaúba guide for improved sustainability

This month, Soleá joined RSB as a member to promote the sustainable cultivation of Macaúba. Producing a high value product from a highly productive feedstock on degraded land offers a range of potential sustainability benefits and this new partnership between RSB and Soleá will see the development of recommendations and guidelines to advance the cultivation of Macaúba in line with the rigorous sustainability requirements of the RSB Standard. RSB will work closely with Soleá to unlock their data and knowledge to create a comprehensive handbook for the industry in Brazil.

Considering the potential of Macauba as a versatile feedstock for the bioeconomy, the aiming of this guide is to support the practice of this culture in a commercial scale as well as by smallholders, ensuring the commitment with sustainability aspects and positive impacts in the social, economic and environmental levels.

Promoting the sustainable cultivation of Macaúba in Brazil towards commercial viability is a key goal of the Brazilian arm of RSB’s Fuelling the Sustainable Bioeconomy project, powered by Boeing’s Global Engagement Portfolio. READ MORE